After the recent escalation with Turkey, the tension before the Dutch general elections is particularly large: the extreme right populist Geert Wilders delivers a head-to-head race with the right-wing government division of Premier Marc Rutte.
With his anti-Islamic and anti-EU course Wilders has led to a political turnaround in the former flagship country for liberality and tolerance. The fact that his right-wing slogans fall to fertile ground in the Netherlands, which is known for their openness, their progressive equality and liberal drug policies, astonished many.
Reporter Alexander Steinbach from the Austrian program ORF Weltjournal embarks on a journey through the Netherlands, analysing the political and social starting point before the elections, which could be directional for the whole of Europe.
Alexander Steinbach interviews extreme right politics specialist Sarah de Lange from the University of Amsterdam, the writer Tommy Wieringa, Geert Wilders, pollster Maurice de Hond, the chairman of the Dutch Centre Information and Documentation Israel, an activist left wing young woman, interviews inhabitants in the former fishers town Volendam and interviews fishermen in the harbour of Ijmuiden while unloading the new catch.
For this background reportage Featurez gave advice, did the research, setup, planning, accompanied the filming and did translations.